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Dumbledore made his way to a podium at the front of the room, and the whole hall fell silent almost instantly.
"I have gathered you here to deliver the gravest of news. Tonight, Lord Voldemort is going to try to take the school." Dumbledore did not sound worried at all; in fact, his voice rang with power and authority.
"We will begin evacuating all of the students immediately. Evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when given the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point, which is still being determined."
Harry looked around at all of the students. Though most of them looked terrified at this news, a boy from the Hufflepuff table stood up and asked, "And what if we want to stay and fight?"
A round of applause broke out among the rest of the students.
"If you are of age, you may stay," said Dumbledore with a slight smile.
"What about all of our things?" A girl from Ravenclaw called.
"We have no time to collect possessions," said Dumbledore. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely. We have already placed extensive protection around the castle, but I can not know for sure how long it will last. It is for this reason that I am asking all of you to move with the utmost speed and—"
A voice drowned out his words. It was high and cold. It could have been coming from anywhere, even the castle itself.
Harry knew it all too well. He tensed at once.
"I know you are preparing to fight." It hissed, and most of the students screamed. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
Everyone in the hall seemed to hold their breath, not sure what to do.
"Harry Potter is all I ask for. I want the one boy who had fought with me for years. I want my best solder back. Give me Harry Potter, and I will go in peace. I shall leave the school completely untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. I will give you till midnight. Three hours should be plenty of time to decide what to do. In the meantime, I call my servant to arise."
Every head turned, and every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry, to hold him frozen in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Harry locked eyes with Dumbledore, and he realized what was going to happen five secondsbefore it did.
"No!" he yelled, and he jumped out of his seat.
He bolted up the hall, pulling out his wand as he ran, desperate to stop what was about to happen. Severus Snape stood swiftly and raised his wand, pointing it at Dumbledore. Their eyes locked, and Snape seemed to pause for a fraction of a second.
"Severus, do what you must," Dumbledore said softly.
Snape still did not move, though. Harry shot a spell at Snape's head but missed him by a fraction of an inch. That seemed to bring Snape out of his daze.
"AvadaKedavra!" Snape said without any more hesitation. Dumbledore crumpled to the ground.
By the time anyone had realized what had happened, it was too late. Snape turned and jumped out of the window.
The Great Hall erupted into a frenzy of noise just as Harry reached the window. He looked out of a Snape-shaped hole and fired another spell into the night, the rest of the order at his side. But it was no use; Snape was too far away now.
There was only one thing left to do. Harry put his foot on the window sill, ready to jump, but someone caught his shoulder.
"Are you mental!" Mr. Weasley asked, pulling him in.
"Let me go!" Harry said, "I can still catch him!"
"How? By jumping out of the window?"
"Yes! Let me go!"
"Potter!" it was Professor McGonagall. "Stay here. The coward is not worth it."
"But I can still get to him!" Harry wanted to stop him, wanted to do something, wanted to fight.
"No, don't do it!" Professor McGonagall said forcefully.
"Let me go after the little traitor! I can catch him! Let me go!" Harry struggled harder, but others had come over to try and hold him back.
"Harry, stop! It's too late! Look, he is already too far."
Sure enough, Snape reached the gate, and Harry watched as the spy disappeared into thin air. Harry whipped around to face everyone.
"I could have caught him!" he spat furiously.
"Harry, it wasn't worth it. You can't just jump out of windows." Lupin said calmly.
"I obviously wouldn't unless I knew how to fly!" He would have been able to stop Snape if he hadn't been held back.
"Now is not the time!" Lupin exclaimed.
Harry glared at them, but he knew Lupin was right. The Great Hall was filled with the screams of students and the roars of Dumbledore's supporters.
"QUIET!" Lupin bellowed into the hall. Silence fell almost at once. "We have just experienced a great blow to our army, but Dumbledore was only one part of it. We have to fight regardless, or else they will most definitely win. We have to protect this school, not only for the Wizarding world but for Dumbledore. If we don't, then we might as well find Voldemort and hand the school to him."
Harry looked around at all of the faces, and he saw a multitude of emotions. He saw anger, sadness, and shock, but most of all, he saw determination.
Harry did not feel much of anything. He had barely known Dumbledore, though this was admirably a great blow to their army.
Really, it was the old man's fault that this had happened in the first place. Harry had told him what was going to happen, but instead of displaying an ounce of the strategy which he was probably known for, he went and got himself killed.
Harry watched as they removed the headmaster's body.
Once it was gone, the hall started to calm down. It seemed everyone realized that now was not the time for mourning. Just like Harry, they would have to wait.
Now, they all had something they needed to do.
Harry turned and looked back out the window where Snape had disappeared. He could have caught him! He knew he could have!
This was why he would not be returning to the Burrow again. These people didn't trust his ability; they would hold him back. He sighed and turned to McGonagall, who was watching him closely.
"You need new protections around the castle. Now that Dumbledore is dead, the old ones are useless." He didn't mention that he had destroyed the wards only hours earlier anyway. He turned and walked away before she could say anything.
He sat down next to Neville again. He was comforting Luna, who was crying softly.
Harry watched as McGonagall took charge and started to command the room. Soon enough, all of the younger students had filed out of the hall and were being evacuated out of the castle, just like Dumbledore had wanted. Then Lupin stood and spoke to the hall.
"We've only got just under two and a half hours until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. ProfessorsFlitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers— Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor— where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile, Arthur—" He pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table.
"Sirius," He gestured to Sirius, "and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize a defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school—"
"Sounds like a job for us," called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Lupin nodded his approval.
"Remember, we may be outnumbered, but we still have a chance to win. It is the quality of one's conviction that determines success, not the number of followers they have. All right, leaders up here, and we'll divide up the troops!"
Harry was impressed at how effortlessly his orders were followed. The students started to flood up to the teachers, jostling for positions and receiving instructions.
Harry stood and scanned the room. There was still no sign of Ron, Hermione, or Ginny. He would have to find a better way of finding them. Then he remembered the map.
He removed his backpack, which had miraculously stayed on him the entire day, and rummaged around in it until he pulled out the battered piece of parchment. He spread it out and began to look around.
He could not see them anywhere, though he supposed they could have simply been hidden in the mass of people being evacuated. He jammed the map back into his bag and glanced at the main table.
He noticed a lot of people were staring at him again. He knew exactly why they were staring and what they wanted. It wasn't going to happen.
Then someone said, "Why don't we just give him to You Know Who? What is the point of going to war over him? He is probably still a Death Eater anyway. Just give You Know Who what he wants, and he'll leave the school alone!"
People were nodding their heads in agreement and whispering to each other.
Harry took his wand out slowly. He wondered how many of them he could fight at once. He was not in the mood to find out.
There were a few people standing towards the back of the hall, and Harry watched as they moved as though unsure if they should be blocking the door or not. McGonagall spoke over what was quickly becoming a fight.
"First of all, he is NOT a Death Eater." She started, but she was cut off. The entire room had burst into protest.
Harry found Sirius and Lupin through the crowd, and his eyes locked with theirs. He had known even from the start that he would never be accepted. He had warned them of this and told them what would happen.
He would always be a Death Eater, no matter what happened.
He knew he had to stop all of this before it got more out of hand. He still needed to look for the last Horcrux, and he wanted to get out of there quickly. He stood up on the bench and fired a jet of red sparks into the sky.
The room quieted immediately. Every eye was fixed upon Harry, who was calm despite more then half the room calling for his death.
"You are right," Harry said, his voice clear, loud, and commanding. "I am a Death Eater. I have the Mark; I have fought with Voldemort. On all accounts, I should be considered a Death Eater."
The entire room looked shocked at his proclamation, and Harry pushed on.
"However, I no longer wish to be involved with anything which Voldemort is planning." Harry continued. "I know most of you will have a hard time accepting this, but it is the truth. Right now, I have something that needs to be done. It is of the utmost importance and will ultimately result in Voldemort's downfall. This means that none of you will stand in my way. The first person to try will be cursed. There will be no second chances. Do I make myself clear?"
Harry looked around at the crowd, who was still watching him attentively.
"My last words to you are as follows. Prepare yourselves. The Death Eaters do not merely injure; they aim to kill. You must prepare yourselves accordingly. No matter how strong you may think any of your spells are, no matter how great your protections seem, the Death Eaters will find a way to break through them, and you must be prepared for when that happens." Harry paused again and then continued.
"I realize none of you trust me, and perhaps you have a good reason, but you would be fools not to listen to what I have to say. I know you still want to hand me in, but I can not let that happen. Like I said, I have a job I need to do. You can try to hand me over to Voldemort, but that would be a mistake on your part. In fact, you would find I am able to take on a good portion of this room and escape with hardly a scratch on me.
"Instead, you have to fight, and you have to win. To lose means to die! Don't bother me again, and the first person to block my path in any way will be cursed past the point of recognition. Do you understand?"
Everyone was looking at him with stunned, mistrusting faces. "At this rate, Voldemort will be able to take over the castle very easily," Harry said with a smirk.
The sound of Voldemort's name seemed to jerk them out of their stupor. The Great Hall burst into action once more as Harry climbed down from his bench. He noticed that no one tried to stop him as he made to leave the Great Hall.
His words seemed to have at least a little impact on them. Or they were scared of him. He guessed the latter and was completely fine with it.
He exited the Great Hall and walked down a corridor close by. He turned left and then right, and then he stopped. Not only did he have no clue where he was going, but he needed to find Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.
He retreated the map once more and opened it up. There seemed to be no sign of them anywhere, even though the crowds had dwindled. Most of the students had been evacuated.
He scanned the map and saw a little part labeled Trophy Room. Harry remembered Lupin saying there were a ton of crowns in there and how it would be a good place to start.
He checked his watch; there were only two hours left before Voldemort attacked.
He would have to hurry to find the Diadem before it was too late.